Mark Blyth - Nobody lives in averages.

It so happened that some pretentious (1) judge from Germany, red robe his workwear, just like some 70 years ago the highest judge was clad in, place of work a small city whose name according to legend was given after a hunting trip when Margrave Charles III William of Baden-Durlach, woke from a dream in which he dreamt of founding his new city - a variation of this story claims that he built the new palace in order to find peace from his wife -, felt obliged to pen his solemn and enlightened thoughts about a subject so mundane and persistent that it seeks to disrupt the existing social order of his country by solidifying and mobilizing the animosity of the "commoner" or "the people" against "privileged elites" and the "establishment".

For the elite of Germany the FAZ newspaper provides the space to publish high octane intellectual drivel like

"A populist is an enemy of democracy".

I don't even bother to translate any of his pompous ejaculations except this beauty, the simple reason being that it is impossible in Germany to sound intellectual without quoting His Philosophical Excellency, the Jürgen.

"Or, to put it in the words of Jürgen Habermas: The people of the Basic Law tend to exist in the plural form."

Amen to that.

Now it's time for some meat.


Mark Blyth - Why People Vote for Those Who Work Against Their Best Interests

Absolutely superb lecture by Mark Blyth about why people are turning to populism. His answer to get people back to the center because

Nobody lives in averages. Populism is popular.

(1)

"Es gehört zum Selbstverständnis und zur Dignität vieler herausragender Juristen, sich nicht selbst anpreisen zu müssen."

"It is part of the self-image and the dignity of many outstanding lawyers, not having to praise themselves."